To be worried how I will manage to work until I am 67?

[brasty]

I am in my mid fifties. I already get more tired than I used to when younger. I wonder how I am going to manage to work full time until I am 67 years old. And continue to do my share of cooking, cleaning, family stuff and actually having some fun.

Oh, and no children so no one will look after me when I’m old. I can't see very many people being happy to look after their parents. I adore my parents but couldn't do it emotionally or logistically. They wouldn't want to be a burden on me anyway.

Ah, see, apparently it'll be fine. Teachers and social workers aren't expected to do their job until retirement. They've to do those jobs whilst they are able, then they've to pop off and get a different wee job to tide them over til retirement.

You know, one of the zillions of non-manual, non-stressful, well paid jobs that are just waiting to be filled...

(I actually had someone say that in a debate/group conversation recently)

I will most likely have to work until I drop. No pension at all, I barely earn enough to live off never mind be able to pay extra into a pension fund, and I rent so this is what I have to look forward to. No partner, and I work 60+ hours a week, 30 of which are very physical (dance teacher). Unless suddenly every kid in town decides to join my dance school or I win the lottery, I can't expect to ever retire

Dancin, that's the active job the 80 year old I mentioned still does!

^Its bonkers how much money I'm paying at the moment into an industry based pension / pyramid scheme....all so people retiring now will be paid more income per year than I am even though I'm working and they aren't.. My industry may not exist in 30 years time - or at least be unrecognisable from what it is now. Who on earth will be paying for me to swan about on international cruises? No one!

Which is why I am very seriously considering pulling out of my pension scheme and saving directly. You lose the employer contributions but if its implausible the scheme will ever actually pay out to you then whats the point?^

@Morphene I think you may have slightly mis-understood how private pensions work. The money you and your employer put in should be invested in various holdings by a trust and/or independent body, as far as I know it's only government pensions that are paid for today by the income of the present employees.

This money then gets income and/or increases in value in line with the share price of the investments. You should receive an annual statement telling you the value of your "pot", and the current estimated income you will get at the stated retirement age.

And the employer contributions aren't the only benefit - depending on how much you are earning and putting in every year, the government reimburse you the tax directly into the penasion. So if you are on 25% income tax, and you put £75 a month into your pension, the government tops that up to £100 per month.

This is why you should NEVER "cash in" your entire pension pot, as the government claws back a massive chunk of anything you cash in over and above the allowed 25%. I used to work for a pensions advisor, we had one client who had already taken his 25% and wanted to take the rest to start a new business and had to pay 55% tax on the remainder

When I'm old I plan to keep myself entertained by experimenting with hallucinogenic drugs You can count me in.

Sinceyouask, do you think pensioners might end up having to flatshare, similar to students, in the future in order to make ends meet?

I would think so. But would that really be the end of the world? Co-living with shared laundry/kitchen/social areas and private rooms to retreat too if you like. Can be nice and social and a positive environment.

@Allergictoironing yes but if @Morphene is on a defined benefit scheme (not DC) and there is a deficit, and the company no longer exists... .then that is tough titties. She won't be getting her expected benefit .

However, I might become unemployed and be unable to find another job, which is far more worrying to me

Seen this happen a lot to family in late 50s and 60s - some find work, some don't. I'd rather work than live in poverty counting pennies and worrying about putting heating on.

Hopefully we'll pay the mortage off just before retiring - assuming nothing goes wrong which it could - though if kids can't afford to move out downsizing while we can still face up it may be harder than DH thinks.

I also worry about caring burden of older relatives - few plans are being made and ones that are seem to involve other people's time and cooperation usually female relatives like me.

Plenty of companies have folded and people have lost their pensions. There is more protection that there used to be though.

Which is one thing that annoys me when younger people tell older people they should have saved into a pension. Pension scheme collapse and pension scheme charges was our PPI scandal. Except there was no compensation. A lot of people lost a lot of money in their pensions.

I retired at 65+, and receive state pension and an occupational pension (20 years service)
I asked to do my civil service job part time as DH is self employed (and the pension he has been paying massive amounts in to since age 17 is worth very little) and my request was turned down.
My working day began at 5am, on the train to commute at 6.30 am, getting back home between 7 and 7.30pm.
I couldn't physically cope much longer. i have struggled to emotionally cope with retirement, it is okay initially, but then you feel sort of old and useless and your world seems very small without that large chunk of your day removed.
Unfortunately very few of our politicians have any experience of this. Friends of mine that have adjusted well to retirement have been the ones where their employers value the knowledge and experience of their older employers and have allowed them to work part time prior to retirement , which I , unfortunately was not able to do.
I do not expect my DC's to look after me when I am old . However I still have 4 adult DC's currently living with us as house prices/rentals in the SE are off the scale, and they are all saving hard.

Good point @Icefall, I rarely had much to do with DB schemes as they are rarely worth transferring and the ones i did look into were mostly FS companies. Though I thought that the majority of those are in some kind of scheme that guarantees a certain % return in those circumstances?

If that IS the case, best bet is to put the money that would have been going into the company scheme into a private pension instead.

This is interesting. I’ve very recently joined the police. I’m 30, so will inevitably retire long before I hit 40 years service. Most people on my intake were in a similar position. What’s most interesting though is how many of us applied and were rejected in our 20s. The required length of service is an impossible goal.

About five years ago I met a police officer who was about to retire at 50, having completed his 30 years. I remember doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation to work out just how many millions his pension was worth. (I don't remember the pension size, but another calculation for this post is that it would have to be about £30,000 for it to be worth one million pounds.)

Pension pots are limited to a certain amount these days, you can't have "millions" in them any more. Unless you already had a certain amount already invested, and had applied for protection and received it, you can only have £1 million nowadays. That would give a pension somewhere in the region of £30-£60k depending on the stock market, interest rates etc.

I think the maximum allowance you could ever protect was £1.8 million.

I'll be well and truly fucked. In my late 30s and already have disc degeneration in my spine and I rent.

I'm guessing on the amount I've partied throughout my life, I won't be around to see it... Otherwise I'll join the others with the drugs

allergic that's really interesting - I will certainly admit to understanding sweet FA about the whole business...but then as the rules appear to be in constant flux and the protections doubly so I would claim there is little point trying to keep up!

I am in higher ED and my pension is with USS if that would help to clarify whether or not there is any point paying into it!

I am very much liking the idea of taking retirement early by working 3 days a week! I am going to put this to my DH as a very serious proposition...because we've both lost parents well ahead of retirement age and I 'd like to spend the important time with my child just in case.

allergic I was also under the impression that the average pension fund doesn't necessarily beat inflation given you can't play the stock market if you have shares in everything simultaneously......

So I don't see how the trust is paying out to current retired members without essentially using the cash we are paying in - regardless of how it is framed. This is at the crux of my belief this is all a pyramid scheme.

You used to be able to make free money on the stock market...but now you can't. Unless we can keep up exponential growth (mathematically impossible on the longer time scales) then the stock market cannot continue to be a magic money tree for ever....and in fact could at the drop of a hat turn out to be a magic money pit.

Current lifetime allowance for pensions is 1 million and to be increased by inflation. Don't tho k thst will be a concern for most on this thread.

OP, I am your age, and am expecting to circumvent any difficulties in paying for my retirement by dying before I've retired.

(I've got to get a new job soon, am dreading trying to find someone to employ me at my advanced age and general knackeredness.)

You had the option to make your own provision but chose not to.

I have very little sympathy tbh, people like you who expect the rest of us to fund your retirement are the real reason actual public services like the NHS are crumbling.

I do understand that you think you 'couldn't afford to' but the reality is you made choices that meant you couldn't afford to. There is a difference.

Most people taper down to some extent, and often find a way to shift to less physically demanding job duties.

The other thing you see as you get older, is it is not automatically the people you think it will be who live and stay healthy. My mum was very sporty and now has major issues with arthritis. My dad who was always lazy, is absolutely fine physically. I thought it would be my dad struggling and my mum who was physically fit. When she was in her mid 50's she was still going to go gigs regularly and camping out at festivals. She seemed so young for her age. Now she seems way older than her age.

430 west Bloody read the thread. I have a pension with a forecast of £4000 a year payout. I have always paid into it. I am low paid.

Morphene have a look at THIS, seems to summarise it quite well for USS.

Also here's a link to the USS web site which, if you aren't on you should have at least have been told about. That may put your mind at rest. It should also educate you a bit about how the scheme works, and from a very brief glance just now you may well be able to tweak your own pension investments going forwards.

BUT - best to talk to an independent financial advisor (IFA) about any changes you are thinking of making. Research them well before getting advice, and never put any of your pension into a "get rich quick" scheme like overseas holiday or timeshare properties!